Deputy details robbery try, shooting at Marie's Pizza in Rockford

Thursday

May 23, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 23, 2013 at 10:05 PM

ROCKFORD — Frank Pobjecky disarmed his friend and used the Glock semiautomatic to foil a robbery. The off-duty and unarmed Winnebago County sheriff’s deputy called his struggle with a gunman a “life or death” situation.

Jeff Kolkey & Chris Green

ROCKFORD — Frank Pobjecky disarmed his friend and used the Glock semiautomatic to foil a robbery.

Pobjecky, an off-duty and unarmed Winnebago County sheriff’s deputy, called his struggle with a gunman a “life or death” situation. It was the first time Pobjecky has spoken publicly about the events of that night.

Pobjecky was testifying in the trial of Coates in a courtroom at the Winnebago County Criminal Justice Center.

Coates, Sago Jr.’s half brother, is the first to be tried. He, Bellmon and Brandon Sago have pleaded not guilty to all charges including murder, attempted murder and armed robbery.

Winnebago County state’s attorney prosecutors do not claim that any of the men fired the shots that killed Sago Jr. Instead they argue that because the four went to rob the pizzeria together, they are responsible for Sago Jr.’s death and guilty of his murder.

Pobjecky, who has received several awards for his actions, including the Medal of Honor, the state’s highest law enforcement award, spoke in detail as to how the first three men entered the business, 1513 Charles St., wearing dark hooded sweatshirts with cloths covering their faces and demanding money.

One of the men pointed a handgun at Pobjecky’s friend, Marie’s Pizza operator Vince Tarara, and later at him.

Pobjecky said Tarara was the first to notice the men, one with a gun in his hand, entering the restaurant.

When one of the men pointed a .357-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver at Tarara, the deputy seized the opportunity to grab the weapon. Both struggled for possession of it.

Pobjecky said he was aware that Tarara routinely carries a Glock semiautomatic handgun in a holster on his hip covered by his shirt while at work. As Tarara and Pobjecky struggled for the Smith & Wesson, the other would-be robbers joined the fight.

At the same time, Pobjecky took the holster off Tarara’s hip and within moments shot the three men and a lookout who entered the restaurant as shots were being fired.

Three men fled out the front door. Pobjecky locked the door behind them and told a restaurant employee to lock the side door and call 911.

Pobjecky then turned to his right and noticed Coates on the floor, wounded and looking up at him.
“I patted him down. He was unarmed and trying to get up. I told him ‘Stay down. Stay down. I’m a sheriff’s deputy.’

“As I was speaking with him, the light in his eyes was going away. I said, ‘Are you dying? Are you dying?’ He said, ‘Yeah’.”

Pobjecky said he kept Coates conscious and talking until medical help arrived.

The other men did not get far. Sago Jr. was found dead outside the front door. Another was found near a Dumpster on the restaurant grounds; the fourth got to the 400 block of 12th Street.

Jurors also saw security tape footage of the botched armed robbery and heard testimony from Tarara and forensic pathologist Dr. Mark Peters, who said Sago Jr. died from three gunshot wounds, not the marijuana and alcohol in his system.

Wednesday’s proceedings ended with Rockford Police Detective David Swanson in the witness chair.